We woke up and packed the tent up for our ferry across to Sorrento, this is not in fact in Italy but a town near Melbourne, the ferry took us across Port Phillip bay and saved a lot of driving through Melbourne, something that should be done at all costs. While waiting for the ferry we climbed the 360° observation tower for views of the bay and yacht berths.
The observation tower
Once disembarked from the ferry we popped into a supermarket to top up our lunch supplies and than had lunch and a walk at Rye beach, we also included a walk out on the long jetty, apparently in good weather you can see Stingrays, but we had no such luck. Our next stop was a boring but necessary trip for tea in McDonald's, this enabled the up load of the last selection of blogs.
We then drove up to Arthurs seat, which provided good views, and then headed to Peter and Suretha's, friends from the UK who moved out here around 10 years ago, we had an evening catching up before our trip into Melbourne the next day.
We're getting closer to home
Enjoying the signage
And a seat
The cable car and views
Suretha gave us a lift into the Melbourne on her commute and we caught the tram the rest of the way into the CBD, Melbourne was busy, to give you an idea, it’s got the same population as New Zealand… We spent a while walking around in circles before popping into the tourist information, they gave us details of the free city centre tram and also some other bits and pieces to do. While waiting for the tram we explored some of the laneways and alleys, Melbourne is famous for these and they mostly have cafes and food outlets bordering narrow lanes. We were feeling peckish so indulged in a ham and cheese croissant each.
We then hopped on the tram for a bit of an explore. We got off and had a walk through Carlton gardens, and it’s fountains before going on a lunch hunt.
Carlton gardens
This was interesting, I asked for two salmon sandwiches, as soon as they asked me what type of bread we wanted I knew it was going to go badly subway style, it turned out the sandwich artist thought I had asked for a salad sandwich, with some salmon added we were sorted and my wallet was lighter to the tune of $18 for two sandwiches. In fairness they were very good sandwiches just hard work to order. With lunch completed we were going to have a look at the Fire service museum however that was closed on Wednesday’s so we headed back down to the botanic gardens, these were relaxing away from the hustle and bustle, and also incorporated a particularly shocked looking statue.
The floral clock in the botanic gardens
After this we headed back to meet Suretha and experience the joys of Melbourne’s traffic. Once back we had dinner and chatted prior to our departure the next morning.
Peter & Suretha
Till Next time
David & Joanna
